Puro Flashback: Ibushi Battles Sombra at Best of the Super Juniors

by Daniel Johnson

Kota Ibushi vs. La Sombra

This is an excellent high speed. high intensity encounter from the 2010 edition of NJPW’s Best of the Super Juniors. Within seconds of the match starting Kota Ibushi already reverses an Irish whip, ducks a clothesline and attempts a dropkick just as La Sombra tries the same move. Sombra soon catches Ibushi though and performs a northern lights suplex followed by a series of submissions focused on Sombra’s neck, arms and legs. As Sombra continues his offense he delivers a fisherman’s suplex, an arm drag after flipping off the ropes and springboards into a whoppie cushion.

Ibushi lands his first major move by dropkicking Sombra out of the ring then hitting a killer moonsault from the top rope to the floor. On the inside Ibushi and Sombra start to slug it out until Ibushi hits a combo breaker straight out of Killer Instinct. Ibushi follows this attack up with a standing moonsault and a lionsault, but Sombra counters and quickly enough hits a moonsault of his own. As Ibushi is dazed and stuck between the ropes, Sombra wallops him with a legdrop as the performance spills outside. After Sombra sends Ibushi into a ring post he hits a moonsault from the top rope to the outside perhaps even more impressively than when Ibushi landed the same move earlier. Did WWE pick the wrong guy to play Sin Cara?

As the match comes to a close there is a little comedy when both men miss standing moonsaults. Sombra is the first to return to offense with a dragon screw and a sloppy slam, but he misses a corkscrew attack. Ibushi ends the match with a series of breathtaking maneuvers starting with a double pele kick that he follows with a hurricanrana off the top rope, a double stomp off the ropes, a flip into a standing senton and a 450 splash.

This was an excellent encounter where one has to wonder how the two performers achieved everything they did with virtually no rest.